Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedom
I remember a brother who suddenly disappeared from meetings. When this happened, no one hardly mentioned it. No one so much as bothered to give him a call to see how he was doing..
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To be fair to the "leading brothers", they are too busy "running the church" to care for the saints. Right? Like Jethro, in Exodus 18, telling Moses to get subordinates to deal with issues of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Even the NT has this pattern: Jesus broke the mob into companies of 50 (Luke 9:14), and had subordinates deliver the bread and fish to the groups. The brothers in Acts 6 got deacons to wait on tables. And so forth; if the LC "brothers" wanted to delegate shepherding to others, being too busy with "church affairs", this is easily understandable, and defensible.
But underneath it lies danger, and the real culture of the LC reveals itself. A culture of indifference. Instead of the shepherd leaving the 99 and finding the lost sheep, you have the so-called shepherds busy with the 99 and indifferent to the lost sheep. If you suffer they don't want to hear about it. It becomes a culture of, "Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost".
Two observations, from attempting to shepherd others in Christianity. First is that when someone comes to me with their problems it IS bothersome. I hate it! What can I do? Basically nothing. So my impotence is revealed, and I don't like that... I become uncomfortable, even resentful. But what God showed me is that even though I can't resolve the situation, and I'm not supposed to, what I can do is to pay attention. God loves them. Pay attention to them! If they are suffering, pay attention. Don't ignore them. God will intervene. But God needs your attention. Yes, it may be uncomfortable at first, but if you pay attention God will arrive... God will arrive and they will thrive.
Second, if you pay attention to others, simply because God loves them and cares for them, then they will indeed be encouraged, not only in their situation, but also to care for others. In this way you actually
will work through subordinates. Not in a formal way of deputies, but the influence of your care will stretch from "your neighbor" to "the flock". It will... God is powerful. God can do anything, and God loves to flow. But first God wants to flow from you to your neighbor... yes, the one with the problem... that one. And when they bring you their problem, that is an opportunity for God to flow.
God loves people, but God needs transparent "eyes" on the earth. Like the angel to Hagar; She said to him, "You are the God who sees me." We are here to let God see others, through us. But first, we need to be transparent. No motive. No intention. Only God knows and only God understands. God's will be done on earth, as in heaven. We are only there because God put us there; God knows everything.... and God will be glorified.
Q: "Master, who sinned, this person, or his parents, that he was born blind?"
A: "No, this is merely an opportunity for the glory of God to be revealed."